I might just use the current discussion among Outlander fans to start blogging again. Not that I ever stopped. Not officially anyway, but the last post happened almost 3 weeks ago…
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[SPOILERS ahead! If you haven’t read the book or don’t know what’s coming… read at your own risk]
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So, Wentworth! I think for everyone who’s read the books these scenes are among those most highly anticipated. Not in a literal “positively looking forward to seeing it” sense, because who – except Black Jack – would look forward to seeing someone raped and tortured? And yes, I know Diana once said – sort of jokingly – she most looked forward to seeing “Sam being tortured and raped” but I think she meant it the same way I’m at least sort of curious about it. While I’m also dreading it and I know it will be difficult to watch and I’ll have a pillow to hide behind ready next to me.
But still: it’s one of the most important scenes of the book, if not of the whole novel series, because it’s about living through something horrible and surviving it with your soul intact. Well, intact after Claire does what she does at the Abbey, but still… Jamie gets through it. Battered and bruised in body and soul still, but he survives it and this experience shapes the man he will become (while it will also influence a lot of future events).
It still begs the question: do we really have to see it all? Can’t it just be hinted at, kept more or less off-screen to make these last two episodes easier to watch? I won’t say to enjoy, because a lot of it won’t be enjoyable to watch. At all. And no, I don’t think it could be kept off-screen, mainly for the same reasons Diana Gabaldon decided to put it in the story in the first place. We have to see / experience the risk and sacrifice to actually understand why it is such a huge risk and sacrifice. Diana explains more about it in an essay she reposted on her Facebook page.
So I’ll be watching it even though it might be hard to watch in some parts and I admit in my own sick and twisted way I also do kind of look forward to it. Why?
Because, as stated above, it’s a key element of the whole story and I do want to see ALL of the story.
Because, in a sort of detached technical way, I’m extremly curious how they will transform the content of just a few pages – on which a lot isn’t even explicitely stated, but left to the readers imagination – to the TV screen.
Because I love Jamie and as stupid/crazy as it might sound I don’t want to leave him in his darkest hour. (Told you it sounds stupid/crazy, but I don’t care).
Because I can only imagine how much courage and commitment and dedication it took to bring this to the screen in all it’s horrifying details. It takes guts to go there on primetime television and I want to show my support by watching it.
Because I think it’s safe to say that shooting these scenes required Sam Heughan and Tobias Menzies to go way out of their comfort zones and I want to honour that by watching their work even if that means I have to leave my comfort zone as a TV viewer as well. It’s the least I can do….
So, #Wentworth… bring it. I’m ready! (Or as ready as I’ll ever be…)